Saturday, November 30, 2013

India’s export of agricultural and allied products has increased to $33.54 billion in 2012-13

The Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FAPCCI) is organized one day State Level Seminar on “Enhancing Competitiveness of Agro produce & Food Processing under changing scenario” on November 28, 2013 at Federation House, FAPCCI, Hyderabad.

Sri Kanna Lakshminarayana, Hon’ble Minister for Agriculture and Agriculture Technology Mission, Govt. of AP was the chief guest for this occasion.

Sri Kanna Lakshminarayana stated that the Agriculture is a backbone of the Indian economy and contributes 27% of GDP and despite the structural change, agriculture still remains a key sector, providing both employment and livelihood opportunities to more than 70% of the country`s population who live in rural areas.

I really appreciate the organizers of the Seminar for choosing the right topic i.e., “Food processing”. Agriculture and industry are the two pillars of economy. Food processing industry provides vital linkages between these two important sectors. Further, it establishes crucial linkage between agriculture and the final consumer. The food processing industry also contributes to National Food security by reducing the wastages in agriculture sector. Further food processing industry has been identified as one of the thrust areas of development.

India today is not only self-sufficient in grain production but also has a substantial reserve except in pulses and edible oils. The introduction of the National Food Security Bill ensures entitlement of food for 75 and 50 per cent of the rural and urban population respectively. The key factor in the implementation of the NFSB is production of sufficient quantity of food grains and to minimize the post production losses. More than 70 per cent of the farmers are small or marginal in Andhra Pradesh, it not sufficient if only productivity is increased, it should be aimed to increase the income of the farmer through value addition. Establishment of small scale grain and /or food processing units will create demand of raw material and effective utilization without any post harvest losses. At present, the primary processed food products constitute the majority of the processed food sales in India, it is estimated that around 58% of the total processed food sales come through primary processed food items. The primary processed food includes items such as packed fruits and vegetables, unbranded edible oil, packed milk, sugar, coffee, pulses etc.

The Indian food processing industry holds tremendous potential to grow, considering the still nascent levels of processing at present. Though India’s agricultural production base is reasonably strong, wastage of agricultural produce is sizeable. As per the figure given to me, processing of fruits and vegetables is low at 2%, around 35% in milk, 21% in meat and 6% in poultry products. By international comparison, these levels are significantly low - processing of agriculture produce is around 40% in China, 30% in Thailand, 70% in Brazil, 78% in the Philippines and 80% in Malaysia. Value addition to agriculture produce in India is just 20%, wastage is estimated to be valued at around US$ 13 bn (Rs 580 bn).

Awareness for quality food and increasing purchase capacity of the public is a positive trend for the promotion and development of the food processing industry. Government of Andhra Pradesh is encouraging the organic farming in different crops which will also help in establishing the export oriented fruit and vegetable processing units. “Right Food” is becoming a major item to ensure good health and high performance. Coarse grains like Jowar, bajra, ragi, korra have very good nutritional value and these crops are mostly grown in tribal and low fertile soils. Based on the nutritional value of these crops, they are included in NFSB. Value addition of these grains will also help in reducing the malnutrition in Indian population. In respect of Cold chain there is a tremendous scope for the development of cold chain facilities.

The cold storage sector is undergoing a major metamorphosis, with the Government focusing on food preservation. Andhra Pradesh is the second biggest in value added in food products and beverages with 10% share of the total value added in the country. The concept of food parks, Agri Export Zones, Human Resource Development have been initiated besides several incentive schemes. The Government of Andhra Pradesh formed four Agri Export Zones for different fruits and vegetables.

India’s export of agricultural and allied products has increased from $29.8billion in 2011-12 to $33.54 billion in 2012-13 which is 8.51 and 10.76 % respectively. There is very good scope to increase the agri based exports to at least 15%. Many aspects of food industry are covered in today Seminar on “Enhancing Competitiveness of Agro produce & Food processing under changing Scenario”. I hope that some useful suggestions and solutions for improving the agro based value addition through appropriate processing will come out and ultimately help farming community Sri Kanna Lakshminarayana said.

Sri Srinivas Ayyadevara, President, FAPCCI Requested the Government to involve FAPCCI as member in the “State Food Processing Development Council (SFPDC) at State and District Food Processing Mission (DFPM) at District level for effective implementation of the objectives of National Mission of Food Processing because of FAPCCI organized six programmes Food Processing.

Seed is the most important input for higher productivity. The farmer cannot access the best seeds in the market due to restrictions and distortions, restrictions on private seeds, GM seeds etc. and distortions by subsidies on seeds sold through the public system.

Farmers in backward area face serious constraints of market, road and warehousing infrastructure. In fact many of the poor farmers live in naturally endowed, but weak infrastructure areas. They can produce much more when support them with infrastructure

The lack of post harvest infrastructure is resulted in huge quantities of horticulture products in the State going waste. Apart from focusing on the enhancement of product and productivity, there is an urgent need to preserve horticulture and agriculture produce. Infrastructure development must be given top priority to ensure the development of modernization of the food processing industries in Andhra Pradesh.

Sri. Bhaskar Reddy, Chairman, Agriculture Committee, FAPCCI said that the agricultural sector`s performance has direct impact on the processing industry and its exports. The raw agricultural and horticultural yield into human consumption is called processed foods such as fruit cam, jelly, milk products. The performance of the agri-processed food industry essentially depends upon the general performance of the economy and the performance of agriculture and industry sectors in particular. The processed foods are slowly capturing the rural market also. In urban areas the processed foods become one of essential items due to change of life style and long working hours and also many urban families are depending upon the processed ready to eat foods. The food market is growing considerably due to rapid urbanization. Andhra Pradesh is the second largest producer of horticulture products in India and it is expected that the production will reach 22.90 million tones by the year 2020. As per the Agro Climatic Zones the major crops which are Mango, Coconut, Cashew, Oil Palm, Chillies, Banana, Sweet Potato, Oranges, Guava, Papaya, Tomato, Chillies etc. are grown in Andhra Pradesh.

The State has about Rs.5,000 crore investment in the food processing sector contributing 20% of the total existing investments in the State. The annual production in this sector is about Rs.9260 crore contributing 20% of the total industrial production in the State.

The Andhra Pradesh state is very strong in the crops like Rice, Groundnut, Pulses and Bajra. The industries in food products contribute 19.36 % to total industrial production in the State. The major segments in the Food & Agro Processing sector are Rice Mills, Sugar, Dal Mills, Diary units, Milk Products and Confectioneries, Palm Oil and other Oil Mills, Biscuits, Mushrooms, Cold storage's.